Douglas Alexander
@D_G_Alexander
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Member of Parliament for the Lothian East Constituency. personal account.
Scottish, British, European.
Joined February 2010
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Promoted by Pat Gordon on behalf of Douglas Alexander, both at 65 High Street, Tranent, EH33 1LN.
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Seems hard to believe that it’s 5 years since Charles’ passing. I don’t just miss his wit & friendship but also his wisdom & reasonableness in our public debates. A good man taken too soon who is still sorely missed.
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Decent. Diverse. Standing together. A bit like the Britain most of us want.
I yearn for a government that represents the best and not the worst of our country.
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I went to my local comprehensive. My mum worked in the NHS & dad in the Kirk. I’ve since served in Cabinet & as a Senior Fellow at Harvard. The suggestion that the parents of the 93% of us who went to state schools weren’t ‘aspirational’ for us isn’t just wrong. It’s offensive.
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Nine years ago today, putting political calculation ahead of the national interest, David Cameron pledged an in/out EU referendum. Some senior Labour figures urged that we match his pledge but as Shadow Foreign Secretary with others I resisted - a position I have never regretted.
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I attended Cabinet for 5 years & each day I benefited from the values my Comprehensive School gave me. He’s been in Cabinet 5 minutes & just look at this sense of entitlement.
The physical embodiment of arrogance, entitlement, disrespect and contempt for our parliament.
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A highlander who saw himself as Scottish, British & European. A politician of reasonableness & good humour who abhorred poverty. I last talked with John on the island of Iona where he now rests. Decades on, I treasure that last conversation & still admire the man & his politics.
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As a Scotland fan no part of my pride in my Scottishness will be diminished if England win tonight. On the contrary, I can see that this England team is - and represents - something really special. Good luck to our English friends & neighbours for tonight's final. 🏴 🏴
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Today I’m thinking not only of the service of British forces but the girls in classrooms in Lashkar Gah, Musa Qala, & Kabul who told me of their hopes for the future: One told me she wanted to be a pilot, another a doctor. They were just like kids anywhere. They deserve better.
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It is a huge privilege to be asked to serve and I’m really looking forward to getting down to work…
Welcome
@D_G_Alexander
, the new Minister of State at the Department for Business and Trade 📣
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As a young speechwriter I wrote the following line for a Labour Leader’s Conference Speech:
“You can delay the people’s choice. You will not change the people’s verdict.”
It came to mind when I read this. 👇
"My working assumption is that we'll have an election in the second half of this year"
PM Rishi Sunak appears to rule out a May general election, adding he's got "lots to get on with"
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No, Prime Minister.
We’re rejoining Horizon two years after a wholly unnecessary departure. During that period our outstanding research universities have been paying the heavy price, like the rest of us, of the Conservative Government’s incompetence & isolationist ideology.
DEAL DONE: The UK is joining Horizon Europe.
Following negotiations with
@EU_Commission
, UK scientists will now have access to the world’s largest research and innovation programme on better terms for British taxpayers.
It’s another step to grow the economy. Here’s why ⬇️
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James - as a fellow Edinburgh graduate can I suggest respectfully that you check your privilege? (You went to Harrow & sit in the Lords as the 5th Baron Bethell.) Times have changed & lots of able state school kids with grit & perseverance were let down by your Government today.
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With the right to champion Corbynism comes the responsibility to accept its abject failure....
"You can be a historical re-enactment society or you can be the government of the UK - you don't get to be both...there should be shame coursing through the veins of the Labour leadership today"
Ex-Labour Minister
@D_G_Alexander
tells
@bbcmarkmardell
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Let’s focus on making a difference not proving we’re different. As a son, grandson & great grandson of Scottish doctors, I think ‘Nightingale Hospital Glasgow’ would surely have better reflected the truth that we’re all in this together.
Health Secretary Jeane Freeman confirms the temporary hospital being set up at the SEC will be named the NHS Louisa Jordan - in honour of a Glasgow nursing sister who served and died in Serbia in WWI
Latest live:
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Charles Kennedy was one of life’s good guys - a better man than those who abused him in his final weeks. I cherish the conversations we shared and still feel his loss in our public life.
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10 Downing Street doesn’t change its occupant’s character. It reveals it. In my revulsion at this week’s revelations I’ve found myself thinking a lot of John Smith who inspired me to enter public life. Decency, integrity, public spiritedness….how far this government has fallen.
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I was sitting next to Tony as he gave this answer to Farage back in 2005. It seems fitting to share it today....
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He’s running! Humbled and grateful to be overwhelmingly selected today by local party members as Scottish Labour’s candidate for East Lothian. Change is coming to our country and I’m determined to play my part by winning East Lothian back for Scottish Labour.
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Thirty years on from his passing John Smith is still much missed. As a young man I had the immense privilege of spending time in his company and cherish to this day what turned out to be our final conversation, standing together on the jetty on Iona where he now rests.
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This answer, and this manager, is pure class. I know, as a Scot, this isn’t our story, but I can recognise it as an extraordinary story - of resilience, redemption & the best kind of leadership.
#totalrespect
👏
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MPs & their staff often get a bad press & rarely get thanked. I’d like to express my gratitude to every one of them from every party who’ve worked tirelessly to help secure the evacuation of U.K. nationals & Afghans at risk over recent days amidst the unfolding tragedy in Kabul.
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I campaigned for & voted for Holyrood to strengthen our democracy. A parliament shouldn’t allow itself to be dictated to by the Crown. Parliamentary scrutiny matters. Separation of powers matters. Evidence matters. It’s time for Holyrood to actually be stronger for Scotland.
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In a Scotland where 250,000 kids are growing up in poverty & 860,000 people are on NHS waiting lists we deserve better than manufactured nationalist nonsense about cafe names.
17 years in power & this is all they’ve got to say. It’s just embarrassing.
It’s time for change.
🟡 Edinburgh Castle's Redcoat Cafe and Jacobite function room names to be reviewed after outcry by SNP politicians
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#coronovarius
is a public health emergency: I’ve never supported the parties of
@BorisJohnson
or
@NicolaSturgeon
but right now as a son, a husband, a father and as a citizen, I’m rooting for them in the decisions they face and the brave, dedicated NHS teams they oversee.
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After three long lockdowns a Hebridean beach is, in my completely unbiased view, the antidote to pretty much everything.
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I’m proud that I went to my local comprehensive, & since have served in the Cabinet & as a Harvard Senior Fellow.
The idea that 94% of British parents - including my own - aren’t “aspirational” for their kids is offensive nonsense from Suella Braverman.
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Today, as the headlines scream out the latest news across Scotland, it feels fitting to be on the island where one’s reminded of the late, great John Smith’s better kind of leadership: “An Honest Man’s The Noblest Work of God”.
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I’m incredibly proud to have started work today at
@biztradegovuk
and to be working with and for the brilliant
@jreynoldsMP
in a role that’s crucial for our central mission to deliver growth. (Here we are in Churchill’s Map Room in the Department).
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I am beyond saddened to learn of the passing of Alistair Darling, a colleague, a friend and a role model of decency & dedicated public service.
My heart goes out to Maggie, Calum & Ann.
Scotland has lost one of its finest sons.
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I woke up to four messages - one from a friend in Vietnam - telling me my East Lothian candidacy had been discussed by
@campbellclaret
&
@RoryStewartUK
on this morning’s
@RestIsPolitics
. The podcast’s huge popularity shows politics isn’t & doesn’t need to be boring. It matters.
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As a
@ScottishLabour
member for more than 40 years I want to offer a personal thanks to all the party members, supporters, & trade unionists from right across the country who came to campaign in
@RutherglenCLP
. As John Smith said “The opportunity to serve. That is all we ask.”
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What joyous news and, in a world with way too many examples of toxic masculinity, the care, loyalty and tenacity shown by her extraordinary husband Richard should be a model and inspiration for men everywhere who want to be better.
#NazaninZaghariRatcliffe
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I want to express my gratitude to the people the Lothian East constituency for the trust they placed in me on Thursday.
I’m looking forward to working with and for the people of this varied, dynamic and beautiful constituency.
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Humbled and proud to stand with so many
@ScottishLabour
parliamentary colleagues by the Clyde this morning. As John Smith said: “The opportunity to serve our country…that is all we ask.”
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“The SNP’s been in power for 16 years..longer than the iPhone has been invented..I struggle to identify a single area of Scottish public life that has got significantly better in recent years.”
A report on my evidence to the Scottish Affairs Select Cmtee.
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The Labour Party of Smith, Cook, Brown & Dewar knew that, as democratic socialists & internationalists, our responsibility is to oppose nationalism not enable it.
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It felt like a very Scottish service this morning for Alistair…a man with a head for figures but a heart that belonged to his family (& the Hebrides). There was a huge turnout from the Labour family & beyond reflecting the very high regard in which he was held by so many of us.
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I’m deeply unsurprised but also deeply saddened by this devastating indictment of the divisions that scar Scotland today. Quality journalism matters & personally I’m proud we keep producing broadcasters of the quality of Smith, Marr, Naughtie, Wark & Mair.
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I talked at length with Charles at the time about how his opponents were campaigning against him. The truth should still matter in our public life...
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Just arriving at Parliament and looking forward to getting down to work for all the people of Lothian East constituency.
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7/7 Right now they deserve more than the benefit of the doubt.They deserve our support. There will be time - later - for election arguments
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I get how vested many are in the SNP & how hard it must be to reconcile their hopes with the disappointment but facts matter. The behaviours revealed are burning like battery acid through the claim their leaders were working as if they lived in the early years of a better nation.
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I worked with Tony Blair & Gordon Brown as they first changed our party and then changed our country for the better. Given the changes to our party Keir Starmer has managed in just the last 3 years, I’m optimistic about the changes for the better he can make to our country.
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35 years ago I was a student at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia when I heard news of the Pan Am 103 disaster. I flew home to Prestwick the next day on a flight filled with silence & sorrow. Today, I’m thinking of the 270 people who were killed that terrible night.
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Just sometimes twitter really delivers: This by
@RBReich
is well worth the six minutes it takes to watch.
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Ministers speaking the truth to parliament is a keystone of our democracy. Whether someone is judged to speak truthfully is a more exacting & important test than whether they perform with style. Motive or empathy isn’t the test. Truthfulness is the test on which democracy depends
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It’s hard to think of another example where so much political capital has been accumulated to quite so little effect.
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It was true 25 years ago & it’s still true today. 👇
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1/7 In 2006, when the threat level was raised to 'critical' due to the transatlantic airliner plot, I was the Secy of State for Transport.
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The sulky response of so many U.K. commentators to Biden’s Irish visit reveals not just how little they understand Ireland today but how much they’re still in denial about the effect of Brexit & the last decade of misrule on the U.K.’s global standing.
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No caveats are needed. Common humanity and real concern means every one of us should be in
@BorisJohnson
’s corner in this fight: I’m willing him and the staff caring for him on every step of the way.
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Amidst all this morning’s political analysis spare a thought today for the parents of Jo Cox &
@kimleadbeater
. We all now know that they raised two remarkable, brave, principled women who are such a credit to them & their family. Thank you. 🙏
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Please watch this video to be reminded why voting Labour matters on 4th July.
13,927 people were helped by a food parcel from East Lothian Food Bank in 2023. That’s 2023, not 1923….
It’s time for change.
2010: 60k people used food banks.
2023: 2.98 million people used food banks.
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In a change from political posts, here’s the video of Tracy Chapman and Luke Combs singing “Fast Car” at the Grammys last night.
She hasn’t performed in public for years and the song was first released thirty six years ago, but it’s still breathtaking.
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“It is a sense of revulsion at injustice and poverty and denied opportunity, whether at home or abroad, which impels people to work for a better world, to become, as in our case, democratic socialists.”
Rt. Hon. John Smith MP giving the R. H. Tawney Lecture (1993),
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Some issues matter more than partisan politics. I disagree sincerely with Kate Forbes on a whole number of issues but as Scots we should aspire to a political discourse that is marked by civility and tolerance…and that involves tolerance towards sincerely held religious beliefs.
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Abolishing DfID would be an act of national self-harm that would hurt both the UK’s global standing and our efforts to assist the world’s poorest people amidst a global pandemic.
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Great to be out listening to and talking with voters in East Lothian this afternoon in quite the week in Scottish politics.
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This week it’s worth remembering that it won’t be Sue Gray who decides Johnson’s fate but Tory MPs. These are the people who knew him best & still enabled him when he was manifestly unfit for the role. They deserve the public’s anger, reproach & rejection as surely as he does.
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Proud then to have coordinated the General Election campaign that delivered Labour's second landslide nineteen years ago today. And proud now that Labour seems to be back on the road to relevance & recovery.
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The task of confronting and defeating antisemitism is not the responsibility of the Jewish community. It is the responsibility of every one of us.
Two Jewish schools in North London to close "in the interests of the safety of children"
For more on this and other news visit
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The General Election has been called.
It’s time for change.
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In August 2006 as Secretary of State for Transport I was briefed when on holiday of an imminent threat to transatlantic aircraft. I immediately decided to return, was helicoptered back by the RAF, & - with my Permanent Secretary - led the response. This is basic stuff.
EXCL: The permanent secretaries of the Foreign Office, Home Office and Ministry of Defence are ALL on holiday during the Afghanistan evacuation
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In a democracy some things actually matter more than loyalty or popularity. Before decent SNP folk take to Twitter to undertake ever more painful & ever less convincing gymnastics (to betray ideas and ideals they once believed in) they should watch this.
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The persistent gap between the bombastic rhetoric and the failing reality is one of the defining features of the political and public policy failures we’ve witnessed in Scotland over recent years.
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Never has so much political capital been accumulated to so little effect. They’ve enjoyed years of hegemonic power & delivered little other than a Scotland divided against itself. ‘The true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members'.
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The populist approach to politics at times involves men dressed as historical figures carrying flags...but it also invites you to replace truth with belief & facts with feelings. That’s worth remembering when you read responses to this new academic report.
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As many of us grab an overpriced coffee let’s remember that 4.4m of our less well off neighbours today see their incomes fall by £1000 as a result of the cut to UC. As prices rise 3.5m kids are today being made poorer. Cutting benefits in this way is a moral stain on our country.
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Today is not a day to say “I’m not a Tory but...” It’s a day to say “I’m a human being so....” (You can be passionate in your politics & compassionate towards people in it.)
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All of us have reason to thank the Army teams now turning the SEC Centre into an NHS Hospital👋👋.
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I don’t share the same politics as
@RuthDavidsonMSP
but anyone who speaks this bravely & candidly about the challenges of mental health has my
#respect
. It’s an overdue & vital conversation for politicians...& all of us.
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Decency, steadiness, humour, a loathing of poverty & injustice rooted in a deep but unshowy faith, a pride in being Scottish, British & European.
I was there 30 years ago today when John became Labour Leader…& I still believe, as he did, that a better politics is possible.
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I can personally vouch for Charles’ great gift for friendship across party lines. As we look to 2022, let’s resolve - individually & collectively - to try & reach across divides, close the empathy gap, & build diverse friendships to nurture & sustain us.
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I yearn for a politics that’s about building things more than breaking things, and more about weaving us together than tearing us apart.
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It’s wearying how this pandemic has diminished our common life. It’s in family celebrations, in workplaces, in social gatherings that we replenish ourselves & each other. So here’s to all the get togethers, the noisy meals, and the nights out, that await us on the other side!
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Not too long ago we had across parties a politics that involved the search for solutions based on the contest between partial truths in our public discourse. Sadly too many in our national life today view politics as performative & seemingly feel at ease telling complete lies.
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Scotland’s and the UK’s first Green parliamentarian announces he will vote Labour to help remove the Conservatives from Government.
Change is coming.
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Internationalism. Cooperation. Solidarity. As Vaclav Havel wrote: “Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.”
Singing of Auld Lang Syne starts in the European Parliament as the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement is approved by MEPs
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I’m very proud to have attended Park Mains High School. It deserves better than this desperate rubbish. I owe its dedicated teachers so much. We should be encouraging every pupil, whatever their circumstances, to dream big & work to fulfil their potential.
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Congratulations
@mgshanks
on a big and well deserved win tonight.
Tomorrow as
@ScottishLabour
we’ll have a spring in our step but we’ll keep focussed, keep listening, keep campaigning and keep working to earn the trust of people across Scotland who are yearning for change.
Rutherglen and Hamilton West parliamentary by-election, result:
LAB: 58.6% (+24.1)
SNP: 27.6% (-16.6)
CON: 3.9% (-11.1)
LDEM: 2.9% (-2.2)
GRN: 2.0% (+2.0)
REF: 1.3% (+1.3)
Labour GAIN from SNP.
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Rarely has so much political power been amassed…to so little effect.
Poll: Sturgeon urged to focus on the health service after independence slips to eighth in the list of voter priorities.
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It’s time for change.
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(1/5) The problem with nationalism isn't the name...it's the damaging impact of constantly asserting victimhood as it's core belief.
Nicola Sturgeon has said she wishes she could turn the clock back and change the Scottish National Party's name
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1/6 Hamas’ barbarism on October 7th set a diabolical trap for Israel. No government on earth would tolerate murder & hostage taking. Amid the catastrophic heartbreak & trauma, the strategic issue for Israel is not the right to retaliate, but the right way to retaliate.
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As Europe Minister at the time I can confirm this story is accurate. (And no, I didn’t come up with the idea 🤦🏻♂️)
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As a member of the
@churchscotland
I’m proud to see the General Assembly has just voted in favour of allowing our ministers to conduct same-sex marriages. (And I hope today’s decision encourages the
@churchofengland
to soon do the same….)
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In case, amidst the chaos of Brexit, you’d like reminded of what real, enlightened national leadership looks like then watch this. And incidentally as a Scottish fan I couldn’t be more impressed by the conduct of this England football manager...a class act!
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With my Ministerial colleagues in the Department of Business and Trade this afternoon I met with the Prime Minister to discuss the work we’ve already started to take forward to deliver stronger growth, more jobs and wider prosperity for the people of our country.
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Time away lends perspective. I believe in public service. I care about Scotland. If I’m fortunate enough to be elected, I hope I’ll come back a different & better politician, having listened, learned & worked in roles outside of politics around the world.
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Putin is not only attacking Ukraine. He’s attacking the very idea that truth matters in international affairs. We who are safe should be humbled that there are journalists like
@bbclysedoucet
& countless brave Ukrainians who are ensuring the truth is told.
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Commiserations to all my English friends. As Scots we knew it wasn’t our story...but we recognised it as a great story. You should feel very proud of your manager & your team.
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This is painful to watch. Britain deserves so much better.
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Six years ago today Nicola Sturgeon launched the MV Glen Sannox.
Reflecting an SNP Government more concerned with presentation than delivery, the bridge windows were simply painted on.
The ferry fiasco continues to this day.
Scotland deserves better.
It’s time for change.
Great afternoon at the launch of MV Glen Sannox. We look forward to welcoming her to our fleet in due course.
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I had good & less good days at the despatch box over the years, but this kind of embarrassing, trust - shredding rubbish from the PM is the antithesis of the kind of leadership the seriousness of this moment demands. He’s not funny. He’s frighteningly bad.
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💯 this👇 Thank you
@lisanandy
for speaking up for the kind of country most of us want to live in…diverse, decent, & outward looking.
Suella Braverman is wrong.
Multiculturalism isn’t the problem.
But we know what the problem is…
#bbcqt
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